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The Shadow Clans
In the endless black forests North of the Witch-tribe Steppes, further North than even the Orcs dare to go, legends abound of the Shadow Tribes, men who do not farm or raise animals, and haunt the wilds forever looking for prey. These black-eyed, sharp-toothed men rarely venture out of the woods, save on moonless, starless nights, when nearby prey can hear the deep clicking that they use to see in absolute darkness. They are a ferociously independent and indomitable people, living in small groups in the wilderness without any of the trappings of civilisation, and only come together to raid south into the wasteland. They are an exclusively hunter-gatherer society, and given that permafrost and tundra take hold within miles of their range beginning, they do much more hunting than gathering. Their forest homes are always dark, as the black trees grow very close together and the sun never rises very far. Tales trickle down of the land above the woods, where pack ice clogs the sea, and the shadow clans hunt on the solid ice, butchering seals and bears for their meat and wearing the thick hides. Reindeer, wild horses, hares, owls and other birds make up much of their diet, along with fish and crayfish caught in the rivers, seal, fox, bear and penguin on the pack ice, and the best and most honourable source of food – the meat of humans and orcs. Society They are reviled by the Witch Tribes and Orcs alike, as they appear only as predators, to kill and steal, never to trade, and only ever come in the dead of night. While Orcs are more able than most to deal with night attacks, the Witches are not – although they punish raids severely the next day, when the time comes to ride down the pedestrian Shadow Tribes. As a result, the Shadow tribes keep mainly to themselves, and only rove the wastelands and the steppes on dark nights, in groups and within range of caves, setts, marshes, canyons and burrows that they hide in during the day. They aren’t stupid, and know that they are outmatched by an orc war party or Witch Rider tribe, so they act as predators and strike only at the weak, the isolated, the abandoned, or the vulnerable, and otherwise hit only when the conditions are perfect. They have mastered the art of avoiding trackers, leaving faint, confusing tracks and signs in the wrong places, leading vengeful hunting parties to become disoriented and lose the trail... Or getting them lost, where they can be picked off by the waiting predators. To be honest, it is very unusual at this point in time to find a Shadow Clan hunting party far from their woods. They are very uneasy off home turf, and tend to stick within range of their ring forts and crude cabins in the snowy dark. The most powerful of the tribes commands a ring fort or two in the black forests – the lowliest outcasts must sleep in secluded burrows, hollow trees and hide tents, where they will likely freeze. The threat of being captured and eaten by a rival clan is a very real one for the people of the woods, so they act as prey when alone, and predator when together. It is a cruel, short life for very many of them, and even their elders live in fear of their rivals, the wilderness, and their own progeny. Technology Technologically, they are vastly behind the other denizens of the wasteland. They do not read or write, but survivors of the black forests say they have seen strange, angular markings cut into trees, and doll-like effigies dangling from the branches, that may be warning signs, markers or communications. The Shadow Clans are capable stone-workers and bone-carvers, and cut the hard, dark wood of their forests to make weapons and shelters. Their woodwork is crude, as their tools are primitive – no saws and steel axes for these savages, but flint and bone burnt into wooden handles. Their hunters arm themselves as such – but they do not use bows south of the pack ice, as their woods are too dense and their hunting patterns too dependent on pitch darkness and their crude echolocation to allow for shooting. They carry knives of flint or bone, clubs studded with animal teeth or made of sharpened antlers, crude nets and large shuriken of hewn wood and bone. Captured weapons are occasionally seen on the strongest warriors and shadow-chieftains, being the only instances of metal weaponry seen. Shields and armour are never seen. A favourite use of captured weapons is to stud heavy clubs on all sides with steel arrowheads taken from a killed Witch Rider, and these many-barbed clubs are used to horrifying effect on enemies, causing torrential amounts of bleeding and requiring great strength to rip it free after every heavy strike. They wear pelts and – sometimes – leather tanned from the skin of an enemy, worn as a status symbol. As they exist in the dark, textures are more important in their jewellery and adornments than colour – with charms made of unusual-textured stone, and soft pelts and skin prized as superior clothing. Different clans have different attitudes to self-modification, and many have distinctive patterns of inserting beads under the skin of the head, face, chest and back to create patterns. Other clans use scarification from knives or burns to create distinctive marks for their members, and yet others – the most powerful – mark their children from birth by winding cord around their skulls, deforming the infant’s malleable bones and producing alien-looking ridges and crests on their heads. Tanned human skin is worn as a sign of power and status among the clans, as it must be taken from prey or a rival hunter – this is often seen when they are comfortable in their ring forts or feasting after a successful hunt. On the hunt, the highest-status hunters will wear masks made from human skin, to frighten their prey and promote panic, and to remind the other hunters of their loosely-maintained social order. Appearance Physically, they are unsettling beings. Between 5’6 and 6’6 tall, they are slim and long-limbed, with unpleasantly long arms, hands and fingers. They are hairless, with black eyes from edge to edge and wide mouths full of sharp teeth. Their skin is shockingly white, and – varying by clan - marked with scale-like bump scars, grey lines of knife-scarring or purple burn-scars, or ridged alarmingly on the skull. It is unknown whether they shave off all their hair and file down their teeth into points. No-one has gotten friendly enough to ask. Their language is barked and low, with many glottal stops and guttural sounds that their keen ears easily pick up on. No-one has seen their womenfolk, but whether that is because the women do not take part in hunting and territory defence or because the women look indistinguishable from the men is unknown. No more is known about the Shadow Clans. Zul's Army Zul’s uniting of the wastelands does not extend to the men of the forest. They are considered, but to find them all and subjugate them would take years, with heavy mortal and psychological toll taken on his warriors. The Witch Tribes would be useless, as horses cannot traverse the black forests, and the clans would defend their home turf ferociously and with every advantage. Simply put, the Shadow Clans are useless to Zul, a poisoned chalice that would turn his own people against him, bleed him, and delay his attack on the Empire by years. Once subjugated, the clans would be a worse ally than they are enemy, and would likely be a massive liability to his army. They were the original inhabitants of the wasteland, before the orcs and tribes were forced onto it by the fledgling Empire – once the nation has abandoned the wastes, the Shadow Clans are fucking welcome to it.